The Martin 32 is a fairly quick, but tender, narrow boat. Locally built in Richmond by Martin Yachts (builders, in the 70s/80s of Martin 29, Martin 242, Martin 32, Martin 32 lobsterboat, and a series of Peterson 35s under licence.)

I'd say build quality is average, certainly not blue water heavy duty. The narrow beam makes for a good upwind boat, but they are tender and a bit skittish downwind with the spinnaker in a blow. Clean lines, no IOR bumps or anything like that.

The interior is straightforward, more or less standard with less room than today's beamier boats obviously. My major beef with the interior setup is that for some reason they built the settees very low - when you sit there your knees seem up around your ears - not sure why, the boat's got plenty of headroom. A friend with one raised the settee and created more storage that way.

They are a decent looking boat, most with a distinctive broad stripe along the cabin house to reduce its visible height. Decent cockpit too. I think they built about a dozen or so.

They'd make decent BC coastal cruisers, esp for a family but you'll probably need a good reefing setup in the shoulder seasons. We owned a M242 for 15 years and despite some of our best efforts, never really broke it... I've done a windy Swiftsure on a M32 - a bit wet in those conditions upwind, and had one memorable wipeout at Race Rocks... the usual stuff.

I'm sure you've seen this, two clean looking examples available locally now.... pretty good bang for the buck.

We were not really looking to upgrade but the one in HSB caught my eye as a possible small, affordable step up (looks faster than our C27) and is in a much better location for us (assumable moorage). We're sure getting tired of the long hike out from DC any time we want to go anyplace other than up the arm.

I see your point about reefing early. I noticed that it's a fair bit taller than our current boat and a bunch more sail area. The extra 2' of draft is something that we'd need to be careful about too.

Don Martin made 30 of the 32's around 1979 - 1981 I think. I currently have 1 of them and it was built in 1980.
The first issue I had to deal with was the cockpit floor. The balsa core acted like a sponge for diesel fuel. It's wasn't a good idea to put the fuel filler in the middle of a flexible floor sealing it with silicon. I since moved the filler cap to under the rear bench seat in the cockpit. Protected from weather it's fine now. Lots of the balsa core in certain areas of 6the cabin top still need to be repaired from bow to stern. The hull itself is not balsa cored & I haven't had any issues that I can recall. I did raise the cabin seating which created much appreciated extra storage. Replaced the windows. The Volvo MD7A with the 110 saildrive is a great combination.

If you want any more info or photos let me know saracen2 at gmail dot com

I have a 32, however it was not completed by Martin Yachts but was completed from a hull. As such it is somewhat different from the standard and the accomodation is better, or at least it suits me and does not suffer from some the problems noted in this blog. It is fast for its size perhaps due to its generous sail area. Being a narrowish boat it pays to reef down early before the gunwale is in the water. It goes very well with its #3 and a full main It was a very sucessful racing boat and it is a good cruising boat for a couple and a child. With a 23 hp diesel it motors at seven knots in flat water at 1500 rpm burning a little more than a litre an hour.

It is not a blue water boat, displacing 8,000 lbs, there is not a great deal of stowage but it is quite adequate for cruising in BC waters

I have heard it said that 32's are a little cranky (probably carrying to much sail is the foundation for this), but we find her beautifully balanced. My wife enjoys helming her what more can you say!

I own hull #4 (according to Don; there are no markings on the boat), formerly Andiamo. A partner and I bought the boat in Vancouver in 2002 and trucked it to San Francisco Bay, renaming it Solar Wind. It's the boat in the photo at sailboatdata.com. Last winter I bought out my partner and renamed it again to Iniscaw.

I agree with most of what's been written above. Build quality is OK but nothing special. Apart from the mast step which was absurdly underbuilt (it's now beefed up), everything important seems reasonably stout to me. I think I have core in the hull (above the waterline only), unlike Stew. The settees are strangely low, but since they're usually loaded with sails rather than people it's not much of an issue.

I mostly race the boat. It's very good in light air and downwind, but I can't keep up in typical summer SF Bay winds. It is tender as mentioned, and since I often race shorthanded it's hard to keep it upright. But it's well-mannered and controllable even when overpowered.

I raced the Singlehanded TransPac (San Francisco to Kauai) in 2010 and had a great time with no major problems. Sailed back too. Last year I lost the rudder on an ocean race: the post was apparently cracked inside the blade, and it folded up to windward during a roundup, so the fiberglass and foam broke up and fell off. Now I have a custom deep elliptical rudder that seems to grip the water a little better, but it's not as well balanced as the original which gave me a nice light helm.

12 years of ownership should tell you I'm very happy with the boat. I'd love to keep in touch with other owners. a.crittenden at sri dot com or martin32max at yahoo dot com.

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